Cheong Yoke Choy (1873–1958): A Grandson Looks Back

Abstract

Colleagues and friends remember Professor Cheong Kee Cheok as an eminently qualified and respected economist, who served first at the University of Malaya and later at the World Bank. Few were aware, however, that he came from a very wealthy and prominent family. His grandfather, Cheong Yoke Choy, was a pioneering and highly successful tin miner and banker in early twentieth-century Kuala Lumpur. However, Professor Cheong rarely talked about his grandfather. It was only a few years before Professor Cheong passed away that he decided to write about the senior Cheong. Part of the reason for eventually working on the biography was because Professor Cheong had, by then, become interested in Chinese family business and had researched and published on several Chinese business groups. He was able, therefore, to see his grandfather within the framework of early Chinese entrepreneurs and the values they held. Equally important, he had family records, as well as access to the memories of surviving family members.